Ruddell & Nancy Laconsello (Zuni Pueblo)
Jewelers: a married couple from Zuni, who work in collaboration and have become a successful team, famous for finely etched inlaid birds. He does the silverwork; she does the inlay.
Nancy and Ruddell Laconsello have been making jewelry together since they were married in 1976. Having learned from her father, Nancy had been doing inlay for several years prior to that. Ruddell is basically self-taught as he learned simply by watching others.
This inlay style, sometimes referred to as overlay with inlaid settings, involves a technique similar to the overlay process in that designs are cut out of one sheet of silver, which is soldered to another. Stones are set into the open areas to form the colorful inlay designs.
Nancy does all of the inlay work; Ruddell does the designing, silver work, polishing and the etching of the fine lines that give the inlaid materials added definition.
The materials inlaid in the pieces shown here are turquoise, lapis lazuli, opal, coral, malachite, jet, and a variety of shells. Courtesy Turquoise Village, Zuni, New Mexico.
